[hpsdr] Open Hardware License Law Review Article

Tue Sep 15 06:45:35 PDT 2009

John,

FYI, this was posted recently in an OpenCores forum.

Sorry it's a mix of html and text -- the announcement at the bottom is  
the heart of it, and it's text.  The original is at http://opencores.org/forum,Cores,0,3480,0 
  (you may have to be a member to see it there), and there was also a  
small document attached that I didn't attach here.

I'm afraid that this is too long to post to the HPSDR list, but I'm  
cc'ing anyway.  I expect a bounce...

Steve, K9SRB

On Sep 13, 2009, at 10:20 AM, John Ackermann wrote:

> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
> I wanted to give lawyers some idea of what's involved in creating a  
> circuit-board-based electronic design, and I devote several pages to  
> explaining the process.  As a result, this may be the only law  
> review article ever to include a schematic diagram!

Protecting Open Source Hardware: Call for Papers
by jeremybennett on Aug 13, 2009 Quote jeremybennett
Posts: 229
Joined: May 29, 2008
Last seen: Sep 12, 2009 The Journal of Information Law and 
Technology (<a href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj/jilt/ 
">www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj/jilt</a>) and the European 
Journal of Law and Technology is an open access publication, 
focussing on the legal aspects of IT. Next year they will be 
running a special issue addressing the subject of Open Source 
Hardware. The following is the call for papers. I'm sure subscribers 
to OpenCores and their legal advisers will be keen to contribute. 
 Jeremy -- Tel: +44 (1590) 610184 Cell: +44 
(7970) 676050 SkypeID: jeremybennett Email: <a href="mailto:jeremy.bennett at embecosm.com 
">jeremy.bennett at embecosm.com</a> Web: <a href="http://www.embecosm.com 
">www.embecosm.com</a> <h3>Call for Papers</h3> Journal of 
Information Law and Technology/ European Journal of Law and 
Technology Protecting Open Source Hardware? 
 Protection for software produced under the GPL is well known 
and shown to be successful, based upon copyright protection and 
licensing. It is not so obvious that the same model can be moved over 
to hardware, since historically engineers have been allowed to reverse 
engineer products at will, so long as they are not protected by 
patents etc. The heart of the problem, so far as opens source hardware 
goes, is that the open source philosophy relies on the key principle 
that you are free to use my work, but only if you subsequently share 
your derived work, so the benefit continues. It relies on a suitable 
legal framework to enforce this "contract". Current 
developments in hardware are moves away from the traditional ‘Von 
Neumann’ architecture to multi-core, parallel processing forms and 
also system-on-a-chip approaches. These are very complex and difficult 
to produce and this is where companies seek to make money. Protection 
is important since special purpose chips are now part of almost every 
device being manufactured and markets can be large. It is not clear 
how best protection for these can be enabled – earlier forms such as 
‘mask protection’ are no longer so relevant when the whole process of 
design and manufacture is through special purpose languages. 
The question we are setting in this call for papers is: what is the 
best method to enforce the open source philosophy for hardware, to 
ensure that contributions based upon the work of others remain open 
for others to develop. One example of the attempt to produce relevant 
licensing is the TAPR Open Hardware License - <a href="http://www.tapr.org/OHL 
">www.tapr.org/OHL</a> which has been discussed by the open access 
community. However, since ‘Open Source Hardware’ is 
relatively unexplored in terms of legal issues, articles will be 
important contributions to the legal debate. We are seeking papers 
which look into the relevant issues and which might help to move the 
open source model into this new arena. Topics could include: 
 <ol> <li> What are the issues which separate software and 
hardware open source models? </li> <li> What elements of the 
GPL are appropriate or not appropriate for protecting hardware 
developments from freeloading? </li> <li> Is a new ‘Hardware 
GPL’ model required? </li> <li> Is hardware protection 
possible through the programming which underpins development? </ 
li> <li> What problems arise from ‘contractual’ models of 
protection? </li> <li> Is it possible to develop an 
‘international’ consensus on protection? </li> <li> Can 
hardware – where it is not subject to patent – ever be protected 
anyway? </li> </ol> These, of course, are the issues which 
lawyers looked at in terms of software in the 1980s. The developments 
in hardware (‘chip’) protection now mean that the same kinds of 
questions asked then, must be asked now, as the economics and 
manufacturing of chip technology moves into a new phase. 
Technical advice will be available to legal authors to ensure full 
understanding of these issues. An overview of current design and 
manufacturing contexts is attached. If you wish to contribute 
to the Special Edition, then please contact Philip Leith at <a href="mailto:p.leith at qub.ac.uk 
">p.leith at qub.ac.uk</a> [q]<a href="uploads/ 
1250159096_OpenSourceTechnical.doc">OpenSourceTechnical.doc</a> (32 kb) 
[/q]
The Journal of Information Law and Technology (www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/ 
soc/law/elj/jilt) and the European Journal of Law and Technology is an 
open access publication, focussing on the legal aspects of IT.

Next year they will be running a special issue addressing the subject  
of Open Source Hardware. The following is the call for papers. I'm  
sure subscribers to OpenCores and their legal advisers will be keen to  
contribute.

Jeremy

-- 
Tel: +44 (1590) 610184
Cell: +44 (7970) 676050
SkypeID: jeremybennett
Email: jeremy.bennett at embecosm.com
Web: www.embecosm.com

Call for Papers
Journal of Information Law and Technology/
European Journal of Law and Technology

Protecting Open Source Hardware?

Protection for software produced under the GPL is well known and shown  
to be successful, based upon copyright protection and licensing. It is  
not so obvious that the same model can be moved over to hardware,  
since historically engineers have been allowed to reverse engineer  
products at will, so long as they are not protected by patents etc.  
The heart of the problem, so far as opens source hardware goes, is  
that the open source philosophy relies on the key principle that you  
are free to use my work, but only if you subsequently share your  
derived work, so the benefit continues. It relies on a suitable legal  
framework to enforce this "contract".

Current developments in hardware are moves away from the traditional  
‘Von Neumann’ architecture to multi-core, parallel processing forms  
and also system-on-a-chip approaches. These are very complex and  
difficult to produce and this is where companies seek to make money.  
Protection is important since special purpose chips are now part of  
almost every device being manufactured and markets can be large. It is  
not clear how best protection for these can be enabled – earlier forms  
such as ‘mask protection’ are no longer so relevant when the whole  
process of design and manufacture is through special purpose languages.

The question we are setting in this call for papers is: what is the  
best method to enforce the open source philosophy for hardware, to  
ensure that contributions based upon the work of others remain open  
for others to develop. One example of the attempt to produce relevant  
licensing is the TAPR Open Hardware License - www.tapr.org/OHL which  
has been discussed by the open access community.

However, since ‘Open Source Hardware’ is relatively unexplored in  
terms of legal issues, articles will be important contributions to the  
legal debate. We are seeking papers which look into the relevant  
issues and which might help to move the open source model into this  
new arena.

Topics could include:

	• What are the issues which separate software and hardware open  
source models?
	• What elements of the GPL are appropriate or not appropriate for  
protecting hardware developments from freeloading?
	• Is a new ‘Hardware GPL’ model required?
	• Is hardware protection possible through the programming which  
underpins development?
	• What problems arise from ‘contractual’ models of protection?
	• Is it possible to develop an ‘international’ consensus on protection?
	• Can hardware – where it is not subject to patent – ever be  
protected anyway?
These, of course, are the issues which lawyers looked at in terms of  
software in the 1980s. The developments in hardware (‘chip’)  
protection now mean that the same kinds of questions asked then, must  
be asked now, as the economics and manufacturing of chip technology  
moves into a new phase.

Technical advice will be available to legal authors to ensure full  
understanding of these issues. An overview of current design and  
manufacturing contexts is attached.

If you wish to contribute to the Special Edition, then please contact  
Philip Leith at p.leith at qub.ac.uk

 1253022335.0